Module 3

Concept 1: Functional Behavioral Assessments

Summary:

A topic discussed in a small section of chapter 7 was functional behavioral assessments. Functional behavioral assessment, also known as FBA, is the process of understanding the “why” aspect of behavioral problems that students have as told on page 274. With this assessment, there is a procedure called A-B-C which stands for antecedents, behavior, and consequences. In this process, teachers can try to identify what might cause a behavior problem by identifying what happened right before, during, and after. Teachers can observe the student when the behavior problem arises, or they can talk one-on-one with the student, parents, and other teachers. Even if they might not know the why the behavior problem shows up in the student, Woolfolk says, “... they seem to benefit from talking to a concerned adult who was trying to understand their situation, not just reprimand them (275).”

Reflection:

I enjoyed reading this portion of the chapter 7 because of how useful it could be in a classroom. At times, teachers might not look to see what the problem is in a student when they might act out and instead tell them what they are doing wrong and what they need to do correctly. Students will notice that teachers might only notice the “problems” about them most of the time and it can harm how the student preforms. With the functional behavior assessment, it will help teachers and students identify what triggers the behavior. From the portion of the quote above, it gives the idea that the students notice that the teacher want to help instead of constantly noticing the wrong. They want to find a solution to better help the student succeed in school. Once the student and teacher figure out the trigger, it can help find some intervention and support the student will need.

In one of my field experiences, I saw a bit of this structure being used to find out why a student withdrawal from the class especially in the morning. Many teachers have noticed that many mornings, the student is extremely quiet, gets distracted, and doesn’t do their work. After talking with the student and watching her actions, they were able to notice that her behavior in the mornings almost always happened when she was late to school. They did contact the parents about what they have noticed, and I never found out what happened, but it was a step forward to helping the student find a way to increase her learning and activity in the classroom even if a small segment was exposed out of a number of things that the student might go through in the morning.

As a future educator, I will be using functional behavioral assessments to help understand what might potentially cause a behavior in a student and how to go about finding a possible solution to the issue. Using the functional behavioral assessments, I can then find an intervention that will work for the student especially for students who are under identified under IDEA and then use positive behavioral supports (PBS). Teachers need to identify triggers that cause a student to act. Without looking, it will not only harm the teacher stopping class to figure out an issue and speak with the student, but it will strip time out of the student’s learning experience and how the student feels about their self.

Concept 2: Self-Management

Summary:

In chapter 7 and a bit in chapter 13, it talks about self-management. Self-management involves goal settings monitoring and evaluating progress, and some believe self-reinforcement plays in while others don’t. When it comes to self-management, students make their own goals either to the public or within themselves. This is a crucial part of self-management because it is it can lead to higher performance because of the higher standards students place on themselves so they can reach a goal. Monitoring and evaluating progress involves the student and/or teacher to make a judgement on how well the progress has been from the prior goal that was set. There can then be alterations to the goal to improve the work and standard that was set. Self-reinforcement is a reward for achieving the goal that could help achieve higher levels of performance later on. There is more to self-management and how it can be seen in classrooms.

Reflection:

“Encouraging self-management requires extra time, but teaching students how to take responsibility is an investment well worth the effort (493).”  Self-management is something every student and person should know. With self-management, it can help us regulate our time and what we can achieve by taking extra time to set goals, make priorities, and feel rewarded after working hard to reach the goal. On page 493 in chapter 13 it says, “The student teachers who develop self-regulation knowledge and skills were more confident, less stressed, and more engaged during their student teaching compared to other prospective teachers who did not learn how to help their students become self-regulated.” From this quote, it shows how self-management and regulation can be effective for student teachers, now imaging if students in a classroom understands and learn how to self-manage themselves. Students could be more successful in their learning and will have the knowledge of setting goals, using checklists to see their progress, and reach their goals that will easily be used as they get older.

When students learn self-management, it will help them understand they can rely on themselves and not have someone constantly checking up on them for simple things like finishing a problem in a few minutes instead of 10 minutes. During my field experience, I witnessed a student who didn’t manage their self very well and would not finish their work without being told to do so multiple times every few minutes. As school began getting closer to ending and report cards going out soon, the student and teacher made a goal for him to achieve. He tried harder to finish his work, especially his math, and asks the teacher to look over before he turns it in, which he never did before. She will point out a couple of errors he had with his math and he would gladly go back to his desk to make the corrections. Eventually, he started to enjoy trying to reach his goal of always finishing his math even if it took him much longer. The teacher would remind him that he wants to try harder in his work whenever he started to slack. By making a goal, the student made a ton of progress to reach his goal and I saw improvement in his math. He was much happier with his results and wasn’t as frustrated anymore with himself because he was managing himself without much of the teacher’s help except for encouragement.

As a future teacher, I want to take the time and effort to teach and help my students understand self-management. It is a skill everyone needs to have. When the students learn self-management, the class will also be easier to manage and keep on task because each of them will have their own goals they want to achieve that they couldn’t in the past. I will then have check-ins with the students to make sure there is progress being made, and if not, we can alter the goal together, so it won’t be me setting the goal, but them. In my opinion, it is more beneficial and meaningful if the students created their own goals with a bit of my guidance to make sure they aren’t creating a goal too easy or too hard for them. Self-management should be taught at a young age to allow students to encourage themselves and see higher learning results academically and even behaviorally that will help them in the future when they are on their own with little guidance.

Concept 3: Rules

Summary:

In chapter 13 of Education Psychology by Woolfolk, it talks about rules. On page 494 Woolfolk states, “Rules specify expected and forbidden actions in the class. They are the dos and don’ts of classroom life.” This chapter explains what the rules should have, how it can be constructed, and what the purpose of each individual rule should be. Along with this, the rules need to be positive and observable to create a positive learning environment each student and teacher want to be in. This chapter says that there doesn’t need to be many rules, just a few simple ones that could cover many specifics.

Reflection:

This concept helped me understand what rules should be and how it can help students and the teacher. As I continued reading the section on rules, it gave a few examples of some rules that are used in elementary and secondary school. While reading those rules, it reminded me of the three B’s that all those rules can be simplified to: “Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Responsible.” These three rules are simple but cover a variety of rules teachers might put up for the students. It is much easier for students to know only a few rules instead of many that could be repetitive like no talking when the teacher is talking, keep your hands to yourself, always ask before taking what isn’t yours, etc. These rules can easily fall under “Be respectful”.

I was able to be in my field experience a few mornings. During those mornings, the students always recite their four simple rules that are basically the same to the three B’s. It is easy for the students to understand and remember and whenever one breaks the rule, the teacher will ask and remind them what rule their action went against. The teacher does have the rules posted on one of the walls in case a student needs to look back and see what the rules are. By posting them, it is easier for the students to understand and know if they don’t by memory and can create a positive learning environment knowing they can look back at something while thinking about their actions.

Through my school years, there were always rules but they weren’t usually posted anywhere in the class. Along with this, they were usually many rules that we had to remember and only went with what the teacher wanted. None of my classmates were ever involved in creating the rules. After reading this chapter, I believe the students should have some say in what the rules should be even if they all end to the three B’s. By creating rules with the students, it will have a positive effect on what the classroom will look like by students coming together as one to figure out rules that everyone could and should follow. It will also allow the students to feel like they have a bigger responsibility to follow the rules because they helped make them and not just the teacher. After reading this chapter I learned much more of how rules should be posted and worded to create a positive learning environment in the classroom.